Lego's iconic plastic bricks aren't very kind to the planet since they're made from oil-based ABS plastic, but the toy maker is planning to mend its ways. It's paying $150 million to build a sustainable materials center that will develop oil-free plastic, whether it's made from recycled plastics or an organic material. It's still early going, but the plan is to completely ditch ABS by 2030. This won't have as much of an environmental impact as getting gas-powered cars off the roads. However, Lego makes a whopping 60 billion bricks a year, and estimates that it'd cut three quarters of its carbon dioxide emissions with the switch -- this would still represent a noticeable improvement.

If you fancy playing with Lego blocks and you're not familiar with Jason Allemann, take a few minutes to browse his work. He's one set of hands behind JK Brickworks, a site that posts rather unique builds with the plastic bits, including gravity-powered walking animals. For his latest project, Allemann built Bricasso: a device that scans an image and then "prints" a mosaic of it using 1x1 tiles. What's more, it's constructed entirely out of Lego parts. Bricasso uses a Mindstorms EV3 color sensor to scan the source photo -- which has to be pixelated from the jump -- and saves the data needed to complete the finished piece.

In just under two weeks, Jurassic World has absolutely demolished box office records around the globe and has raked in over $1 billion to date according to Box Office Mojo. The film series is a natural fit for video-game (and virtual reality) tie-ins and since you gals and guys enjoyed us streaming a pair of those not too long ago, we figured it'd only be fitting that we'd go back to the island with Lego Jurassic World. Join me at 7 p.m. Eastern / 4 p.m. Pacific as I wade through the muddy jungles of Isla Nublar completely blind on PlayStation 4.

Yes, those rumors of Lego building a direct competitor to Minecraft were true: meet Lego Worlds. The sandbox game has launched on Windows through Steam's Early Access program for $17, and promises to do more than just let you sculpt buildings and fight off critters. You can alter the terrain on a large scale, and access ready-made drivable vehicles (including dragons) to get around the procedurally generated landscape. Not too surprisingly, there's also a big tie-in with Lego's real-world plastic bricks. You can play using a handful of old-school and current Lego sets, and more are promised down the road. Don't be surprised if you're eventually buying digital blocks at the same time as their physical counterparts arrive. Slideshow-293074

Lego's new Amiibo-like Dimensions figures haven't even hit stores yet, but already the company appears to be taking on another gaming phenomenon: Minecraft. The world's biggest toy brand has begun including small flyers inside some of its sets advertising a new game called Lego Worlds, inviting players to "Explore. Discover. Create." Sounds exactly like the premise of Mojang's popular sandbox game, doesn't it? Lego may have gotten a little ahead of itself as the dedicated website for Worlds has yet to go live, but something tells us we might learn more about this mysterious title when E3 comes around next month.

Lego has something up its sleeve to lure you away from Skylandersand Disney Infinity: future-proofing its toys-to-life-game, Lego Dimensions. Along with the announcement that a handful of new figures will be sold in "Team" and "Fun" packs, the press release wasn't afraid to get passive aggressive about what separates it from the competition:

"Future expansion pack purchases will continue to work with the LEGO Dimensions Starter Pack, even in the fall of next year. No compatibility chart necessary."

That last portion refers to the aforementioned games' need to point out what does and doesn't work between different expansions and figurines in each game. Cheeky, yeah? That means the Joker and Harley Quinn minifig/vehicle Team Pack, and Superman and Bane minifig/vehicle Fun Packs won't have any trouble getting along with anything released in the future, it sounds like. Nor will a certain Timelord when he meets the likes of Doc Brown of Back to the Future fame and some more Ninjago characters.

If the combined might of Batman and Gandalf wasn't enough to intrigue you, how about throwing in a Timelord (with a Scottish accent)? More details of the Skylanders-baiting Lego Dimensions game have been gleaned from a building instruction sheet for its Back To The Future set, with a catalog of level packs (read: figures and accessories) we're going to see alongside the game itself. As well as Doctor Who, expect to see a Portal 2 pack, as well as Jurassic World, The Simpsons and Scooby-Doo. You can also expect multiple figures from Lego's own brick-based franchises like Ninjago as well more characters from Lord of the Rings -- these will be part of "fun packs", likely to cost less than the aforementioned full-blown level add-ons. And if it sounds like a lot, remember: we haven't even seen the DC comics sets yet. Slideshow-285636

Activision's Skylanders franchise has been a huge success, combining colorful toys with a video game platform that players can easily manipulate with their personal collection. Disney and Nintendo have followed with slightly different takes on the toys-to-life concept, and now Lego is jumping into the fray too. The company is partnering with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Traveller's Tales, the publisher and studio responsible for most of the existing Lego games, to create a new series called Lego Dimensions.

Let's imagine you've always found Lego computers cool and woke up today wanting to make one of your own. In that case, congratulations: Mike Schropp from Total Geekdom just published a design for a small (but powerful) PC that's perfect for you. Schropp went for the smallest design that could still house the latest Intel i3, i5, and i7 processors, USB 3.0, various ports (HDMI, LAN, audio, display, mic), multiple SSD drives, up to 16GB of RAM and even a CD/DVD or Blu-ray drive. He went through three iterations, before he managed to build a size (7.5 x7.5 x 5.5 inches) that he felt was perfect for this project (and didn't need too much Lego), equipped with a top-down cooling system.

Fans of green cars are eagerly awaiting the release of the Tesla Model X, but you won't have to wait to see what it looks like on the road -- a YouTube user spotted the new car cruising down the freeway in Palo Alto, California. The electric vehicle, which was originally supposed to be released in 2013, is now set to launch in the third quarter of 2015. In other automotive news, Mercedes-Benz has announced plans to release 10 new plug-in hybrid models by 2017. The new models will be designated with a simple "e" instead of the longer "plug-in hybrid" branding. Toyota is currently testing its i-Road three-wheeled electric vehicle in France. The i-Road is seen as a "last-mile" vehicle, and Toyota wants to see how it can integrate with public transportation to decrease traffic gridlock.

What do you do if you want to 3D print in any direction, but can't buy a pre-made pen like the 3Doodler? If you're Vimal Patel, you build your own. He melded a hot glue gun with a powered Lego mechanism (really, Technic) to extrude filament in any axis. To call it bulky would be an understatement, but it works -- as you'll see in the video below, it can produce fairly complex objects as long as you have a keen eye and a steady hand. And if you want to try it, you can. Patel has posted his Lego Digital Designer file for the 3D printing gun, so it shouldn't be too hard to replicate the invention at home.

Google's Science Fair competition regularly leads to clever inventions from teens, and this year's event (the fifth ever) is giving junior pioneers an extra incentive to strive for a prize. On top of familiar rewards, including $100,000 in scholarships and trips to the Galapagos or Virgin Galactic's spaceport, there's a Community Impact Award that honors efforts tackling environmental or health issues -- kids who clean up the planet or save a life may get special recognition. Teachers will also get their due through a new Inspiring Educator award. Young creators have until May 18th to submit their finished projects to Google, and you'll hear about the winners at a finalist event starting on September 19th.

Are you one of the millions of people who bought Destiny? Do you like Lego? If you fit that fairly specific demographic, then the latest creation from master builder ZaziNombies might get you more excited than a Thrall on a day out from the Hellmouth. Okay, we might have gone a bit overboard there, but this full-scale replica of the Ice Breaker is seriously impressive. Inside the game, you'd normally obtain this auto-regenerating exotic special weapon as part of a reward, engram, chest haul or even buy it from old squid face (Xur) on one of his good days, but if one of your talents is putting together little plastic bricks (without a manual), then it takes more than 2,100 individual Lego pieces and a whole lot of time. As it turns out, this Lego Ice Breaker isn't the first Destiny weapon that YouTuber ZaziNombies has created, but at an impressive 42.5 inches in length, it's definitely his best.

We have no idea how Jurassic Worldis going to turn out come summer, but we do know that it's getting Lego-fied for Lego Jurassic World. The game follows all three Jurassic Park stories in addition to this June's blockbuster, and it'll be available for basically every platform you can think of. Short on imagination? Well then, here's a list: 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Windows PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Phew. The dino-centric series has always had a bit of a mixed showing when it came to solid video game adaptations (the Sega Genesis movie tie-in and the Xbox's Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis were great, though), but the folks at Traveller's Tale have a pretty good track record with their Lego games.

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Fri, 30 Jan 2015 03:02:00 -050021|21136934http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/15/recommended-reading-11-15-14/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/15/recommended-reading-11-15-14/http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/15/recommended-reading-11-15-14/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsRecommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read.

New York City's latest subway station is a really big deal. Fulton Center recalls an age when public transit stations packed in architectural prowess, and this hub does just that. The main element is the so-called Sky Reflector Net that not only bathes the atrium in natural light, but also reflects that light two stories underground thanks to a cable structure suspended way up above.

There was plenty of fun stuff going on at Expand, but certainly one of the highlights was a competition put on by Lego. The toy giant challenged participants to create a machine that either saved or destroyed Manhattan. (Poor Manhattan is always in the crosshairs...) Six participants got up and demoed their creations, which ranged from remote controlled street sweepers, to soothing music-playing robots and a violent bot that smashed anyone or anything violating its personal space. Ultimately though, winners had to be selected (this is a competition after all).

Those old Lego Minecraft sets are cute, but the construction toy company's finally gearing up to release new ones that look much more like standard Lego sets -- and yes, they come with mini figures. Lego fans on the Eurobricks forum have recently spotted images of two of the six sets to be available later this year. Pictured above is The Farm, which features a standard player farm with Steve, a sheep, a skeleton, a jack-o-lantern-like brick and fake vegetables, because, well, it's a farm. The other one's called The Cave (see after the break) where Steve's equipped with a pickaxe, is buddies with a zombie and is scarily missing a hard hat despite that TNT brick looming behind him.

It certainly isn't the first robotic arm made out of Lego that we've seen, but this particular one can actually be worn and easily controlled by the user. According to its creator, Diavo Voltaggio, the arm was made using Lego Mindstorms EV3, which is a software-and-hardware kit for DIY robots. He says the machine is pretty straightforward: it has four buttons connected to four motors that control each finger. Pressing a button flexes the corresponding finger, while releasing it relaxes the finger, as well. Voltaggio calls this cyborg limb the Mark VI, as it's the sixth one he's built, thus far -- he disassembled the first five, so he could learn from them and make better models going forward. As a result, it's much sturdier than its predecessors, though it's also much heavier with all its braces and battery pack.

Today, we take a deeper look at Amazon Firefly, learn about T-Mobile Test Drive, review the ASUS Padfone X and investigate the biggest third-party games from this year's E3 event. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.

We typically think of Intel as a hardware company, a chip-making giant that helps build wearables, cable-free laptops, smart baby onesies. Today, though, the company is showing off software for a change. The chip maker just unveiled Pocket Avatars, a mobile messaging app that lets you send video messages to friends. Actually, "video messages" doesn't really describe it. These aren't so much videos as 3D avatars that happen to speak in your voice. In particular, the app makes use of facial recognition -- a pet project of Intel's -- to mimic gestures like nodding, blinking, sticking out your tongue, and raising your eyebrows. A future version, said to be coming soon, will support more nuanced facial expressions, along with neck and shoulder movements. All told, this is a lot of real-time processing, which means the messages are going to be brief: You've got 15 seconds to say what you want to say.

If your child is constantly glued to a tablet swiping away at birds or fruit, you're probably wistfully wishing for the days when kids liked playing with actual toys. Well, Lego just might have the perfect solution for you and your offspring. Today, the maker of the beloved construction bricks announced Lego Fusion, a system that combines the flexibility and fun of app-based games with the good ol' fashioned activity of creative Lego building.Slideshow-202316

Lego, the popular toy brick maker, graduated from simple plastic playthings in 1998 when it released its Mindstorms Robotics Invention System (RIS). Born of a collaboration between Lego and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), these "toys" let users build a variety of interactive humanoid, animal and vehicular robots. Although the product underwent iterative revisions over the years, it wasn't until 2006 that the company decided to introduce its true next generation of Mindstorms kits, appropriately dubbed NXT.